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Charles Darwin And Darwin 's Theories On The Human Understanding Of Biological History

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When Charles Darwin published The Origen of Species in 1859, he knew the asseverations made in it would cause a rift in the scientific community of his day. Also, he knew that his work would not be received by humanity with open arms because of the dogmatic idea of creation that was predominant in his time. Nonetheless, he went ahead and published the results of his extensive and detailed work because he knew, that not doing so would cause him to lose the right to claim this discovery for himself. At first, the scientific community attacked his arguments because they were against the traditional beliefs, but eventually his ideas began to gain ground until they became one of the pillars of modern science. Upon considering these facts, I believe it is important to ponder on the reasons behind the opposition to Darwin’s ideas, how he managed to convey them, and more importantly how these ideas helped shape our understanding of biological history. Before even talking about The Origen of Species or Darwin’s theories it is important to discuss the historical context in which this book was first published. Up to this point in history, the origin of all life on the planet had been explained using a theological approach. In other words, God had created the world along with all its vegetation, then created all the animals, and then created humans as the center of creation. According to this view, all animals, trees, and landscapes we see today are the same that existed when Adam and

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